The Silly Season

By: Patti Bankson

Someone on television called this pre-election period â€œthe silly seasonâ€, and I thought, â€œExactlyâ€! The airwaves, newspapers, and mailboxes are full of it. Unfortunately, so are far too many of the people running for office. With few exceptions, they claim to be â€œThe Only Oneâ€ who can fix everything thatâ€™s broken. And of course, their opponents arenâ€™t capable of fixing anything, right down to their own breakfast. Iâ€™ve said this before, but it bears repeating… Iâ€™d rather hear a candidate tell me what he or she will do than what their opponent has done. But, on the other hand, if it werenâ€™t for the opposition putting out information, weâ€™d often be in a â€œWho knew?â€ position; left (as we are all too often) voting for someone based on what they say about themselves, only to find out they donâ€™t always know the truth from a hole in the ground. Obviously, all we can do is try to navigate this maze of information and disinformation to the best of our ability. And, donâ€™t kid yourself… navigate you must; and vote next Tuesday you must, because your future, my future… our future depends on it.

The outcome of this mid-term election is not simply about which partyâ€™s candidates win, itâ€™s about continued government growth and spending, higher and more taxes, and most of all itâ€™s about who will be in control of our every day lives… us, or the I-know-better-whatâ€™s best-for-you politicians. (No matter whatâ€™s in The Constitution.) And donâ€™t forget all the politically correct nonsense. They know better than we do about that stuff, too.

Although none of those issues have been exclusive to any one party alone, they just make the maze resemble a land mine. One wrong step and BOOM! Itâ€™s all over but the crying, and trying to pick up the pieces. Just like everyoneâ€™s trying to do right now… trying to find jobs, trying to keep from losing homes, trying to get unresponsive, clueless leaders to hear our voices. See, politicians donâ€™t look at winning a campaign as merely a win; they see it as a mandate. And mandate in political speak is â€œpermissionâ€ by voters to raid funds (supposedly in â€œlock-boxesâ€), indulge themselves, with impunity, in unspeakable ways, print more money to spend on unnecessary and/or stupid things with a total disregard for those who will suffer the consequences, all while treating those who are footing the bill with complete disdain.

A prime, and outrageous, example of that disdain is the President of the (entire?) United States using our taxes to travel the country endorsing his partyâ€™s candidates. Been done before… wasnâ€™t right then, still not right. Then, like thatâ€™s not bad enough, in the process, heâ€™s calling all non-Democrats â€œthe enemyâ€. This from the â€œHopeâ€ and â€œChangeâ€ president who promised to wipe out the things that divide us from one another… Uh-huh. Obviously, this isnâ€™t just the â€œSilly Seasonâ€; itâ€™s also the â€œBe Very Afraidâ€ season when our own president takes on the role of the Enemy Within.